I am typically a very easy-going traveler but as my first time to China I was a bit nervous about the unexpected.  I was to attend the Federation of Asian Small Animal Veterinary Associations tradeshow in Beijing and, while I thought I had done a bit of research prior to going, it is always slightly different once you arrive.  

I planned to arrive a day early to get settled but my arrival flight to Chicago was delayed due to weather and when we did finally land in O’Hare looked out my window only to see my flight to Beijing taxiing out for takeoff.   Oh well, nothing to do now but get a good night’s rest and try again tomorrow.  The next day I was booked not on American but on a United flight and I did have to twist American Airlines arm a little bit to actually keep me in business class on the United flight.

We departed about noon and the other Asians seated around me quickly went to sleep as soon as the late lunch meal was served.   Of course, I on the other hand, was wide awake for most of the 13-hour flight sleeping only the last 2 hours (not exactly smart).   Landing at 2 pm local time in Beijing, I was quickly shuttled to my hotel to freshen up and prepare to meet our hosts for dinner.

Peking Duck

The gracious hosts took me and my colleague to a restaurant for a traditional Peking duck meal.  This ceremony is very elaborate.  We had a private room and we started our courses which included most of the duck pieces and parts.   There was duck tongue soup, fried duck hearts, ducks’ feet with wasabi, and likely other duck parts until the finale, the duck breast.   I must admit that some of these dishes made me a less than eager guest.  But when in Rome…err I mean Beijing. 

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 I think the hardest thing for me was the duck feet.   While my Asian friends felt they were a delicacy, I felt them to taste more like a rubber band.  Luckily, as a kid I had plenty of practice swallowing pieces of beef liver that my Mom seemed to enjoy preparing.  Now with a big swing of Tsingtao beer  I was able to say “M-mmm good” with a smile quickly followed with no that was good but I don’t need any more just yet as we have many courses to go.   The rest of the dishes I found tasty and by the time dinner was over I was ready for a good night’s sleep. 

Beijing Convention Center and Olympic Park

The next day we went to the convention center and were escorted around through the exhibit hall.  While the veterinary medicine and the tradeshow were somewhat similar to a US show, I was not blending in.   Something was odd and it was me!   I still don’t know what it was, and can only assume it was my silver hair or maybe blue eyes, but I had many people come up to me and want a picture.   Escaping outside the convention hall for lunch we were nearby the Olympic Park.    A short walk away was the Bird’s Nest arena and the Water Cube national aquatic center.   It was a bit surreal as I remembered watching the Beijing Olympics but never imagined I would be in Beijing just six short years later.

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Back to work it looking and learning about Chinese veterinarians, their medicines and what they preferred.  I came to learn that the Chinese really like genuine American products and medicines.   They feel that too often Chinese products are far inferior and lack quality control.  So, US products and “Made in America” are highly prized. 

Tiananmen Square

That evening my colleague and I decided to walk down to Tiananmen Square and see the gates to the Forbidden City.  It was about a mile walk from our hotel but an easy walk. Many people were already there when we arrived even at 10:30 pm.   My most vivid memory of this square prior to this was of “Tank Man” standing in front of a tank during the uprising on June 5, 1989.  No one knows yet today what became of him even today.

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So, it was with more than a little trepidation as I walked into the square and saw the armed brown uniformed soldiers with the red star on their caps standing not too far from me.  This was the face of the enemy of the US growing up as a cold war kid. Signs said that photographers could “potentially” lose their cameras if taking pictures of the soldiers.   And while China is still far from a free society today, I also realized that this is their Washington DC.   If I go to DC, I will also likely see many places with armed soldiers guarding building from unwanted entrance.  Therefore, I relaxed a bit, took our photos just the same as everyone else and afterwards headed back to our Hilton hotel safe and sound.

Veterinary Clinics

To a large extent small animal veterinary medicine is less advanced when compared to US standards.   Most small animal hospitals in Beijing don’t have near the equipment, training of staff or technology in comparison to the US.   The focus of Chinese veterinarians has been predominately food production, so large animal medicine was viewed as much more important small animal medicine.  One must remember that pet ownership 15 years ago was only relegated to only the very wealthy in China.  I was told that even in I went in 2014, Beijing whose population was over 24 million people only had 105 progressive veterinary hospitals catering to the wealthy.   Now China has over 100 million pets and is quickly growing to be the largest pet country in the world. 

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I was lucky enough to visit not only some of the progressive clinics but also the Veterinary School in Beijing.  While a bit crude clinically by our standards the University veterinary school was very strong from a research perspective.   One of the things I really liked about Chinese veterinary clinics was that when pets were given fluid therapy, most owners stayed with their pets.  Cuddling them and soothing them the pet parents were often sitting with them by the windows looking out.   So many times, US clinic couldn’t (legal worries) or wouldn’t have let owners stay with their pets as inconvenient or disruptive.   I thought this was a great idea.

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Night Market and Dinner

That evening we had a bit more free time so we walked around the vicinity of our hotel.   One of the more odd things we found was the Night Market.   While I am sure it is mainly for tourists, someone has to be eating all this stuff or the markets wouldn’t exist.   It smelled disgusting and there was no way I was trying anyone of them.   Photos were all the “experience” I wanted to take home with me.  In fact after our tour of the night market my colleague and I had to walk around (away from the aroma) of the night market for 30 minutes before we could get our appetite back.   It was about then we spied a Pizza Hut and dashed in for something more familiar to our taste buds.

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Time to head back to the Hilton for a good night’s rest. We finished up early so have a free day on Saturday, but that is for a follow-up post. I really enjoyed seeing Beijing. The people we met were very nice, we never worried about crime, and the hotel was excellent at providing us cards with one side where we wanted to go and the reverse to show the taxi when we wanted to come back to the hotel. Taxi’s were inexpensive and lots to see and do around Beijing.

I hope some of my adventures in Beijing have piqued your interest in visiting this capital city. It has lots to offer visitors in the heart of Beijing, the Olympic area, and in the surrounding areas, where you can visit the Great Wall of China and the Summer Palace. It is friendly to westerners and I had a great experience.

As always, happy to hear feedback.